'3rd hall of Parliament' opens to public in renovated Bank of Montreal building

After nearly eight years of renovations, Canada'sso-called "third hall of Parliament" was opened to the publicFridayjust in time for people to gather there and watch the speech from the throne.

Thirty-twocompanies and hundreds of specialists worked to conserve the historic parts of the Bank of Montreal building,constructed between 1930 and 1932,during the lengthy renovations.

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"We like to think of it as a stone box that's got a lot of life," saidMark Thompson Brandt, one of the architects involved in the project.

Brandt called the buildingthe"third hall of Parliament," along with the House of Commons and the Senate Chamber across Wellington Streeton Parliament Hill.

Bank transformed into '3rd hall of Parliament'

9 years ago

Duration 2:07

The so-called "third hall of Parliament" was opened to the public for the throne speech in the newly renovated Bank of Montreal building on Wellington Street.

The bank's formersafety deposit vault has been converted into a meeting spacefor MPs.What used to be a quiet, concrete room is now decked out withhuge projectors, speakers andacoustic panels so that people can gather there for speeches, conference and ceremonies or watch the throne speech, as was the case on Friday.

Anew atrium made of structural glass allows the building's visitorsto stare up at the sky. The atrium also featuresa staircase made withred stone shipped in from Cape Breton.

A cheque signing table wasrestored and remains in place. The renovators even had to import a special rice paper from Japan to restore the hall's ceiling and make its gold and silver leaf shine.

"[There was] 80 years' worth of nicotine stains on the walls and the ceiling, from all that time that smoking was allowed in public spaces," said Thompson Brandt.

Bank remained tenant until 2005

The federal government bought the building in the 1970s but the Bank of Montreal remained operational there as a tenant until 2005.

Renovations began in 2008 and included a team ofarchitects, engineers and specialists inacoustics, plaster and stone.

Carleton University architecture professor Mariana Espondawas the first person to show up to see the space on Friday.

For years, Esponda had dreamed of seeing the former bank from the inside.

"The story that the building is telling us it's great, it's great. I'm so pleased that I am here," she said.